Fatalities as bridge collapses in World Cup host city, crushes several vehicles (VIDEO)

Firefighters and policemen work at the site where several vehicles were crushed by a viaduct that collapsed in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on July 3, 2014. (AFP Photo/Pedro Duarte) / AFP

At least two people were killed and 19 people injured as an overpass collapsed in the Brazilian World Cup host city of Belo Horizonte, according to the Minas Regais state health department.

A city bus and several vehicles were crushed after a part of a
bridge, which was under construction, fell onto a busy highway. A
fire department station believed one person remained trapped in a
vehicle under the rubble.

O'Globo's footage showed a yellow commuter bus crushed under part
of the bridge. G1 said another two trucks and a vehicle were also
smashed.

The injured were taken to Odilon Behrens and Risoleta Neves
hospitals. Two ambulances and eight fire trucks arrived to
perform rescue operations, Military Police informed local press.
A helicopter from the Fire Department also assisted in the
rescue. Authorities believed an additional fatality was possible.

In an interview with Globo News, Lieutenant Colonel Edgard Estevo
from the Fire Department said the rescuers were having difficulty
accessing the car under the rubble.

“We need to stabilize the area to access the site safely and
to study the situation at the bottom [of the rubble]” Estevo
said, referring to the possibility that the rest of the structure
might crumble.

The accident occurred in the north of the city where the
Argentinian national team’s camp is situated.

"We were traveling normally and then there was a terrible
noise," Renata Soares, who said she was on the bus at the
moment of the accident, told GloboNews TV. "I am sure that
more people in other cars were underneath the debris."

The overpass was one of the many infrastructure projects built to
improve Belo Horizonte's public transport network. It was
supposed to become one of the links connecting the city center
with the airport, but had not been finished in time for the World
Cup and was still under construction.

Belo Horizonte is to host a semifinal match on July 8. The city's
Mineriao Stadium has already staged five games at the event.

The Friday incident was the second major accident this year
attributed to World Cup preparations in Brazil. In early June a
construction worker was killed when a concrete portion of the São
Paulo monorail collapsed. Last year two construction workers were
killed when a large crane collapsed at the construction site of a
stadium in the capital.